When Many Paths Cross
by Avery Ambrose
Summary: Gem, Val & Kit are kicked out of an orphanage. Rix is found on the streets. Meg & Max's lives are saved. What'll happen when these girls meet the New York Newsie? A lot of drama & romance...Spot/OC, Race/OC, Mush/OC, Specs/OC, Jack/OC, Blink/OC
1. Freedom

**A/N:** _Okay, this FanFic was written by Gem and typed by me. Most of my (maybe our...) future stories will be based off of this. Um...Gem has all of these chapters written in Spiral Notebooks so it's taking us longer to get the chapters posted because we only see each other at school. We're hoping to get at least 3 posted a week, but that might vary with our schedules. Other thing: Rix, Meg and Max don't come in until later chapters. I gonna try and get some profiles and include them the Authors Notes, but you won't meet the characters until they're written about in the story. Thanks for reading!_

**Disclaimer**:_ Neither Gem nor I own Newsies. Sadly, our favorite boys belong to Disney. But if we did...chances are that we would be making a sequel!...hehe ; )_

**Introduction**

"Hey, leave dat poa' boy alone!" commanded Gem. Her brown eyes were flashing, her hands balled into fists.

But the bully, Tom, wouldn't let go of the boy. "Who's gonna make me?" he sneered at her.

"I will," Gem told him with as much conviction as she could muster- considering she was a short 5'2".

Tom merely laughed at her. But Jake, one of his cronies, advised him, "Ya betta listen ta 'er, Tom. She's pretty mad."

Tom paid him no mind. "What's she gonna do, slap me?" Tom laughed bitterly.

Quietly, Gem said, "Oh, I'll do moa den dat." Then punched him, throwing all her weigh behind it.

She connected with his nose. There was a sickening "crunch" and then blood poured down Tom's face.

Tom fell to his knees, cupping his hands around his nose, yelling, "She broke my nose! Dat bitch broke my nose!" Jake looked at Gem with shock splayed across his face. He took of for the orphanage, yelling for Mister Horran, the headmaster.

Gem knew she was in trouble. _Big_ trouble. She had gotten in fights before. The last time she punched a boy, Mister Horran had given her one final warning; If she got into another fight, she's have to leave the orphanage. And she had just blown it.

"Val, Kit!" Gem yelled, turning from Tom. Her two best friends ran over, eyes going wide at the sight of Tom.

"Oh, no! Ya didn't! Tell me ya didn't!" Val exclaimed.

Gem could only nod slowly. "Dat was my last chance, goils. Mista Horran ain't goin' ta let me stay hea no moa. Ya mind helpin' me pack?" she asked with a false air of indifference.

"Gem, ya now we'll help. An'…an'…" Kit drifted off, looking at Val, then back at Gem, "And we'se goin' wit ya."

"What!" Gem exclaimed. "No! I'se can't let ya do dat!" she protested.

"An' why not?" Val countered, crossing her arms. Kit followed her example and they stared at Gem. They knew she couldn't resist the stare-down.

Gem shifted uncomfortably. "Goils. It's- it's too dangerous. I'se can't let ya come."

"Dangerous? All the moa reason ta come with' ya's. We can't let ya go by yoa'self," Kit said slyly.

"We'se comin' Gem. Ain't nothing' ya'se can say ta change oua minds."

Gem broke. "Fine. But ya gotta promise ta be ca'eful. I couldn't live wit' meself if eitha o' ya got hoit."

"Lydia Miller! You get in here this instant!" Mister Horran bellowed from the the orphanage door. Gem flinched at the use of her real name.

"We'll go pack foa ya," Kit said softly.

"T'anks," Gem replied just as quietly.

"Lydia, now!"

Gem winced again. "Wish me luck." Turing on her heel, Gem walked calmly up o Mister Horran, and with her head held high she walked through it.

**Kit**

We were just finishing up with the packing when Gem came in. "Yep, we'se leavin' goils. He wants me out," she confirmed. A grin spread across her face. "Oh an' I _foa'got_ ta mention dat you'se two are comin' wit' me. He may be surprised ta see ya's gone."

Val laughed and then threw Gem a bundle of clothing to change into, consisting of a pair of trousers, suspenders, a shirt, a vest and a hat. Val and I had already changed into a similar outfits.

Gem stared at her bundle and moment with a faraway look in her eyes. "I miss 'im," she whispered.

She was talking about Jeff, the one who gave us the clothes. He was going to adopt Gem but he got sick and died this last winter. He brought Gem to the races every day he could. He brought Val and I along too, sometimes.

Snapping out of her reverie, Gem changing quickly. She slipped her dress into her bag and then pulled out the gold pocket watch that had been Jeff's. In calligraphy-like handwriting, a 'J' carved into the front. Gem clipped the chain to he vest and put the watch into her pocket, unconsciously giving it a pat

"All set?" I asked. Both nodded at me.

We walked in silence down the hallway and out to the street. Setting foot on the cobblestones, we all turned to stare at the orphanage that had been our home for so many years.

Turning to look at me and Val with a grin plastered to her face, Gem winked. "We'se free, goils!" she whooped, spinning to race down the street. Laughing, Val and I followed.


	2. Snitchin'

**Disclaimer:** We don't own Newsies. tear

**Val**

We set off in one direction and began walking. We were so busy talking,giddy with excitement, that we never paid any attention to where we were going. That was our mistake.

"Uh, goils," I said, glancing at the gathering clouds in the sky and back at the unfamiliar street, "either a' ya's know where we are?"

Gem looked at me a moment, not comprehending. Then she looked around and Kit spun around in a circle.

"Uh, oh," Kit murmured. "Not good."

"What're we'se gonna do?" I asked. We all looked at each other, at a loss as to what we should do.

Lightning flashed in the sky overhead. "Foist t'ings foist: find shelta'!" Gem yelled over the thunder, turning away.

I turned the opposite way and jogged over to an opening to an alley. In the back stood make-shift lean-to looking thing made out of old wood. I started to call to Kit and Gem, but thought better of it. Obviously someone else had built this for themselves and it was likely they would come back to it soon. I didn't think that we could take on a seasoned street rat in order to win the rights to the lean-to, so I continued on. A few alleys down I heard Kit call us over. I went over and se waited for Gem to catch up.

As soon as she came within earshot, Kit said, "We'se can sleep on da stairs a' dis apartment. We'se don't got anywhere's else ta go."

"Woiks foa me," Gem agreed, heading for the doors. She had barely gotten to them when the sky opened up.

**Gem**

Kit was right. The stairs weren't exactly a very comfortable place to spend the night, but it didn't matter much 'cause we didn't really sleep, anyways. We were up all night.

Sighing, I told Val and Kit, "I'se really sorry 'bout all dis. I shouldn'ta hit Tom da way I did. My tempa got away from me again," I snorted. "But den, Tom always had a way a' pissin' me off."

Kit laughed. "Well, at least ya show when you'se angry so we'se can get outta youah way. Val, hea," she put her hand on Val's shoulder, "is sneaky 'bout it."

Val laughed, too. "An' Kit, you'se won't talk to da person you'se angry at. I t'ink dat's woise! Da cold shoulda'…" she feigned a shudder, "…dat's harsh!"

It was my turn to laugh. "Kit, ya 'memba when I accidentally ripped yoa doll's dress when we'se were younga?"

She blushed as Val laughed and replied, "She wouldn't talk ta ya foa almost a weeks!"

This time we all laughed. This is how we are, laughing most of the time. But suddenly the air grew somber once more. We sat in silence a while, but then Val voiced the question that was buried in all of our minds: "What are we'se supposed to do now? We can't sleep on stai's foa'eva'."

"Well, da only t'ing I'se can t'ink a' doin' is tryin' ta find a job, den find a place ta live," Kit said.

I made a face. "Ugh, do ya t'ink we'd hafta woik as laundress's? I hate washin' clothes."

"Yuck! I hope not!" Val agreed.

"C'mon goilies," Kit interjected, "Now's not da time ta be picky. But maybe we won't have ta woik at a bakery. Or maybe a factory. Come ta t'ink of it, dey prob'ly wouldn't hire us at a bakery and factory woik is too dangerous. Maybe we could…" on and on the ideas flew.

It was a long night, with the storm blowing outside and us trying to figure out some way to stay alive and off the streets.

**Val**

"Man, I'se starvin'," Kit annouced immediately upon waking up. "Let's go find somet'in ta eat."

Outside, the sun had just risen and the city was waking up. People were coming out of their homes, dodging puddles and carriages while going about their daily routines.

"Let's find a bakery or maybe a fruit sellah," I suggested.

"But we'se don't have any money," Kit said, concerned.

"Uh,Kit?" Gem looked at her skeptically.

"Oh. Right. We'se snitch it, not buy it," Kit realized.

"Have ya eva snitched befoa?"

"No."

"Me eitha," I admitted.

Gem looked shocked. "What! You'se ain't neva snitched befoa? What's wrong wit' ya?"

"I neva had a reason ta snitch," Kit shrugged.

"Same wit' me. No reason to."

Gem looked incredulous. "Wow," was all she could say.

"Well, could ya teach us?" Kit asked.

"I s'pose." She agreed. "But foist we'se gotta find some food foist, den I'll teach ya how it's done."

We picked a direction and started walking. Along the way, Gem gave us some tips on snitching. "Foist t'ing ya should know is ya got ta be sneaky. Ya can't jus' walk into a bakery and walk out wit' a bun in plain sight. Try an' sneak one inta yoah pocket. Don't leave real quick it makes people suspicious. If yoah snitchin' from a vendor wait 'till dea's a big crowd. Makes it harda foa people ta see ya's. Got it?"

We nodded mutely. "Good. Look, dere's a bakery ova dea. Stay outside an' watch dis time," she told us.

She walked into the bakery. We waited and watched. She went to a more crowded part of the bakery. She raked her gaze across the various breads as if she was looking for a certain something. Deftly, she slipped a small bun into her hand. She walked a little further down and did the same with a slightly larger bun. She turned and walked out of the bakery slowly, as if disappointed that she didn't find what she was looking for

"See?" she asked when she reached us. "It ain't so bad."

"Have ya eva' got caught?" Kit asked, staring at the buns with slight awe in her gaze.

Gem laughed. "A' course. 'Specially if ya ain't very sneaky. But if ya ain't sneaky, ya betta be able ta run fast."

I grinned wickedly. "Well, Gem, it's a good t'ing yoah sneaky 'cause ya sua as hell can't run very fast." We laughed.

Laughing, she replied, "I know. Dat's why I had ta loin ta be sneaky."

"Dea' ain't enough buns foa' all t'ree a' us," Kit cut in, mind still on food and food only.

Gem raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change in conversation. "Yoah odd, Kit."

"She's right, though. Should we try an' snitch anutha one." I suggested.

"Alright. But I'se can't do it again. Which one o' ya's wants ta try?" Me and Kit looked at each other.

I looked at Kit. She sighed, "Fine. I'll go."

Gem nodded and reminded her, "Rememba…be sneaky." Kit took a deep breath and walked toward the bakery.


End file.
